It is expected that mobile electronic appliances will increasingly be equipped with additional radiofrequency (RF) communication functions in the future. By way of example, this relates to mobile telephones, portable media players, smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), hand-held gaming consoles, tablet computers, laptop computers, etc. Besides their conventional functions, these appliances will therefore be capable of performing additional communication functions. The array of applications of RF communication functions include, in particular, contactless chip card functions, such as bookings, payments, purchases and the like, but also the simple user-initiated communication from terminal to terminal, for example for the exchange of photographs, MP3 songs or business cards. Such additional RF communication functions are increasingly implemented by using what is known as near-field communication technology (NFC).
NFC technology is a wireless short range connectivity technology which allows simple and secure two-way interactions between electronic appliances. This allows consumers to perform contactless transactions, to access digital contents and to connect electronic appliances and apparatuses. In other words, NFC technology allows contactless, bidirectional communication between appliances. These elements may be mobile telephones, computers, consumer electronics, cards, tags, signs, posters, washing machines and the like equipped with NFC. An appliance equipped with NFC technology can, in principle, operate in a read/write, peer-to-peer or card emulation mode.
NFC technology is standardized as contactless technology in the 13.56 MHz frequency band. The ISO-14443 standard is a cornerstone for a large amount of the near-field operations. NFC technology is generally compatible with at least the type A and type B ISO 14443 standards. The components of an NFC session comprise initiators and targets. The initiator is the element which begins and manages the communication and the interchange of data. The target responds to requests from the initiator. A feature of NFC technology is that elements can act either as an initiator or as a target. NFC technology requires a dedicated RF chipset and an antenna to be integrated in the mobile element.
Some NFC implementations relate to configurations in which the ISO 14443 standard is mapped onto a contact-based, transparent interface between, by way of example, an NFC front end and a secure element. In one implementation example based on ISO standard 14443-2/3/4, the protocol selection (protocol selection sequence) is defined as an initialization and anti-collision sequence in ISO/IEC14443-3. In this case, it typically takes a few milliseconds to perform this sequence before data can be transmitted on the application level. This time is necessary in order to initiate data interchange based on ISO/IEC14443-4 in the communication between an NFC front end and a secure element in a mobile terminal, such as a mobile telephone, for example. This time span may already be too long for time critical purposes and applications.
Against this backdrop, there is a need for methods and apparatuses which allow a communication method having improved properties.